Coin toss may determine Olympics slot after photo finish

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Jeneba Tarmoh, foreground, and Allyson Felix cross the finish line Sunday in the women's 100 meters in Eugene, Oregon.

Story highlights

Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh cross the line at exactly the same time, cameras show

Olympic officials are giving them the choice of a rematch or a coin toss

There doesn't appear to be any precedent in U.S. Olympic trials for a dead heat

With three places up for grabs on the U.S. Olympic track team, two women tied for third place in the women's 100 meters over the weekend -- crossing the line at exactly the same time -- which means the coveted Olympic spot could be decided by a coin toss.

Sprinters Allyson Felix and Jeneba Tarmoh threw their bodies across the finish line so evenly matched that cameras recording 3,000 frames a second couldn't tell who beat whom.

Both runners recorded precisely the same finishing time, down to thousandths of a second: 11.068 seconds.

Two women beat Felix and Tarmoh: Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison. Their first and second place finishes on Saturday give them the chance to represent the United States at the Olympics in London this summer.

But the photo finish leaves USA Track & Field with a dilemma: Who gets the third slot?